Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

AHOSKIE – As the investigation continues into a deputy-involved fatal shooting that took place near here Wednesday morning, Bertie Sheriff John Holley has identified those involved.

On Friday afternoon, Holley said that Deputy Jonathan Pierce fired the shot that struck and killed 39-year-old Doris Jean Taylor, who lived on Jernigan Swamp Road south of Ahoskie.

Holley told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that Pierce has been employed with the Bertie Sheriff’s Office for the past five years. He has been placed on administrative leave, with pay, while the investigation is ongoing, the Sheriff added.

Holley said his officers responded around 10 a.m. to Taylor’s residence in reference to a possible suicide situation.

He added that the Aulander Police Department and Hertford County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene.

There, the law enforcement officers encountered Taylor, armed with a weapon, outside her residence.

Holley said that the officers on the scene made several requests for Taylor to drop the weapon, but she refused to heed those commands. He added that Taylor walked towards the deputies, still holding the weapon, at which time the fatal shot was fired.

Holley said that additional information will be forthcoming as the investigation continues with the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.